Many commercially available toothpastes remove stains through abrasives, which can damage the tooth enamel. Toothpastes are unable to whiten teeth that are naturally yellow or gray in color. The present method of obtaining whiter teeth includes tooth bonding, capping or in-office dental bleaching procedures. These methods are relatively costly and therefore not widely available to everyone.
The in-office dental bleaching procedure involves making an alginate impression of the arch to be treated. From the resultant hydrocal cast, a vacuum-formed soft plastic night guard, approximately 2 mm thick, is fabricated. The custom made tray is then used to apply a tooth whitening substance to the teeth to be whitened. The in-office procedure is fairly expensive and therefore not readily available to the consumers.
Tooth whitening substances are currently available in the market. A 10% Carbamide Peroxide, also known as perhydrol-urea, hydrogen peroxide carbamide, urea peroxide, or urea hydrogen peroxide, has been recommended for bleaching teeth. Prior use of the chemical by dental clinics has been as oral antiseptic where tooth bleaching was a side effect of extended contact time. However, application of the substance involves using a cotton tipped applicator or a toothbrush, which does not make it possible for the tooth whitening composition to stay in contact with the tooth for a longer period.
There is therefore a need to provide an apparatus and method for whitening teeth that is fairly inexpensive without requiring a visit to a dentist, that can be used effectively at home and that permits the tooth whitening composition to remain in contact with the teeth to be whitened for a relatively longer period of time.